‘Four People Decided I Couldn’t Play in EPL’ - McDonald Mariga Revisits Failed Man City Move

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) McDonald Mariga has commented once more on his failed transfer to English Premier League side Manchester City.

In January 2010, Mariga was close to becoming the first-ever Kenyan to play in the English top flight when City, then under Italian coach Roberto Mancini, agreed a deal with his side Parma.

A contract was prepared and terms agreed but when the midfielder was about to finalise everything, the move hit a snag.

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This is after a UK panel voted against his transfer, citing Kenya’s low FIFA ranking, with the rules requiring players who sign for Premier League clubs to come from countries ranked 70 and above in the world.

He therefore failed to obtain a UK work permit and even the intervention of the Kenyan government, through then Prime Minister the late Raila Odinga, did not bear fruit, leaving him crestfallen.

“I signed with Man City but there was the panel that sits to know who they should sign,” Mariga said on the Obi One podcast. “There was this [rule] that you had to be top 70 in the world, your national team, but we were like position 130 so I did not qualify.”

“There are these seven members [of the panel] who had to sit and decide if you will play in the English Premier League or not. Three decided I can play but four said no I am not qualified,” he added. “I had already signed the contract. So I went back to Italy and they [Man City] took Patrick Vieira and I went to Inter Milan.”

However, that failed move turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Mariga would soon sign for Serie A giants Inter Milan, then under Jose Mourinho, and he had the best six months of his career as the Nerazzurri went on to win the treble of Italian league and cup as well as the 2010 UEFA Champions League crown.

“Inter Milan was on top, they had won the league the year before winning the treble,” Mariga remembers.

The Kenyan midfielder would make 36 appearances in total for Inter, winning six trophies, before he returned to Parma after a loan stint at Real Sociedad in between.